2 replies to this topic

[3byzmom]

Hi everyone, I'm a mom of a 16 year ol boy who started on Claravis in December for cystic acne. He is 115lbs and he was started on 40 mg, one capsule a day. He has had good results and the derm bumped him up to two 40mg capsules per day. This seemed like too much to me but trusted them to know what they are doing. I have a 19 yr old son who took claravis his senior year. He was probably 15 or 20lbs heavier than his brother. He had pretty bad flare ups during his course, dry lips and skin and joint pain. By the end of his course he was taking 120 mg per day. Now I think this was also too much for him. After reading the FDA's recommended dosage per weight it says my 16 yr old should be taking a max of 50mg divided into two capsules per day. Why would they bump him up to 60 then? Especially when he was having good results from 40. Yesterday he called me at school and he had a really bad headache and said in weights class he jumped down from doing pull ups and his knees hurt so bad he almost buckled. He's a pretty tough kid too. He has been on 80 mg for two weeks now. I cut him back to 40 yesterday and left a message for the derm and have been researching online. I'm just waiting to talk to her now and will not let him more than 50 again. Any advice or thoughts appreciated.

*Meant to say why did they bump him up to 80mg

[soysauce]

I would definetly talk to the derm about this, that does seem like a very high dose for his weight, Accutane is a powerful drug and any signs that is may be to much should be taken care of immediatly. I hope your son clears up well

[PaulH85]

I agree that it's best to check it out, for peace of mind at the very least. I've no medical knowledge myself, but I'd like to think that if I were in his position and having problems such as headaches or excessive pain in my joints and was struggling to handle it, the derm would take a look at the dosage and be able to consider reducing it without it reducing the drug's overall ability to tackle the acne.